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Dragnet (1987)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 15

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

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Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 33,509

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Movie Info

Dan Aykroyd must have practiced for months to perfect his Jack Webb inflections for Dragnet. Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz's directorial debut (also written by Mankiewicz, along with Aykroyd, and Alan Zweibel) is a gentle spoof of the legendary '50s television police drama -- pitting '50s conservatism smack up against the attitudes of the '80s. Basically, the film is another 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop clone. Aykroyd stars as Joe Friday, the nephew of the original Friday. But with his brown

PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min.

Action & Adventure, Comedy

Directed By: Tom Mankiewicz , Terry Leonard

Written By: David Ackroyd, Alan Zweibel, Tom Mankiewicz

On DVD: Oct 27, 1998

MCA Universal Home Video

Dragnet Trailer & Photos

Cast

Dan Aykroyd
Sgt. Joe Friday
Tom Hanks
Pep Streebek
Christopher Plummer
Rev. Jonathan Whirley
Harry Morgan
Capt. Bill Gannon
Alexandra Paul
Connie Swail
Elizabeth Ashley
Police Commissioner Jan...
Jack O'Halloran
Emil Muzz
Dabney Coleman
Jerry Caesar
Lisa Aliff
April
Fred Asparagus
Tito Provencal
Jim Boeke
Nectar Pagan
Donald Craig
Announcer
Gray Daniels
Crewman #1
Sandra Eng
TV Reporter
Ava Fabian
Baitmate
Kimberly Foster
Betsy Blees
Kathleen Freeman
Enid Borden
Ruben Garfias
Tough #2
Bruce Gray
Mayor Parvin
D.D. Howard
Officer Robin Gilbert
Peter Leeds
Roy Grest
Margaret Lenzey
Baitmate
Lisa London
1982 Redhead
Maurice Marsac
Maitre d'
Lenka Peterson
Granny Mundy
Casey Sander
Phoney Cop #1
Ray Sharkey
Drug Pagan
Jimmie F. Skaggs
Caterer Pagan
Dona Speir
Baitmate
Bill Wittman
Narrator
Meg Wyllie
Mrs. Gannon
Peter Aykroyd
Phoney Cop #2
Gary Lee Davis
Leggings Pagan
Chester Grimes
Pagan
Bert Hinchman
Night Watchman
Julia Jennings
Sylvia Wiss
Christopher Mankiewicz
White Coat
Stuart Quan
Tough #3
Julie Donald
Zookeeper
Josh Cruze
Police Officer
Sydney Urshan
Officer Conklin

Critic Reviews for Dragnet

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (15) | DVD (8)

More innocuous than inventive.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Most of the time it's fresh, funny, and surprising.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Pat Graham

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Mr. Aykroyd and Mr. Hanks play well together, but the funniest performance in the film is that of Dabney Coleman, as the smut king (who lisps).

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

The script is a gold mine of one-liners.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

It's fun a lot of the time. Several individual shots are hilarious.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Yes, it is lowbrow and sophomoric. What you'd call dumb-de-dumb-dumb fun.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Rita Kempley

Washington Post

Top Critic

Lots of naughty behavior, laughs in TV cop spoof.

December 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

It simply doesn't come off, and the viewer will be left with an empty feeling, a vacuous notion that somehow the laugh scenes slipped by unnoticed. They were never really there.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Aykroyd's script has more than its share of clever, witty ideas, but the film still feels the need to descend way too often to Police Academy-style heroes-dress-up-like-idiots sequences.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Deservedly a critical and box-office fiasco.

May 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Annoying comedy.

May 24, 2006 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Entertaining enough, but a pity they didn't draft in more of the Eisenhower context.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

Strident pop-culture revisionism.

June 22, 2004 Comment

Leo Goldsmith

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

A comedy classic, Hanks and Aykroyd are great

March 4, 2004 Comment

Clint Morris

Moviehole

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Dragnet

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THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY!Classic 80's comedy with Hanks in his silly prime and Aykroyd when he was in everything haha.There are some genius moments of comedy gold in this film that just elevate it, its much like the 'Starsky n Hutch' or 'The Dukes of Hazzard' remakes in which they sent up the original somewhat but keep it

February 15, 2009

Phil Hubbard

Super Reviewer

Why Mankiewicz?, Why Leonard?, Why Ackroyd?, Why Zweibel?, Why Dragnet is not so good?

May 26, 2011

Lucas Martins

Super Reviewer

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